Breathing in Faith: On the Way to Election Day
Dear God’s Beloved, On the Way in NE PA,
As Election Day draws near, let us hear the word of the Lord from the prophet Isaiah:
“Do not fear, for I am with you;
I will bring your offspring from the east,
and from the west I will gather you;
I will say to the north, ‘Give them up’,
and to the south, ‘Do not withhold;
bring my sons from far away
and my daughters from the end of the earth—
everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.’”
Bring forth the people who are blind, yet have eyes,
who are deaf, yet have ears!
Let all the nations gather together,
and let the peoples assemble.
Who among them declared this,
and foretold to us the former things?
Let them bring their witnesses to justify them,
and let them hear and say, “It is true.”
“For I am about to do a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.” [Isaiah 43:5-9, 18-19]
As of this moment, none of us knows the outcomes of these elections. There is real reason to think, we won’t know fully for days, even weeks to come. As we cast votes, as we watch the returns and the media coverage, as we discuss and post and pray, how can we surrender all outcomes to God? As we sit here, before our pages and pads and pods, holding our breath?
Let us breathe.
By the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit. Who fills us with faith and hope and love and peace that passes all understanding. With each breath. We breathe in God. We breathe out all that separates us from God and each other. And we share the breath of God, together. In and out. Deep cleansing breaths.
Let us breathe, and as we breathe, let us pray between breaths:
IN: Loving God, love us deeply…
IN: Healing God, heal us deeply…
IN: Engaging God, engage with us deeply…
IN: All our friends…
IN: All our neighbors…
IN: All the people…
IN: Alleluia…
OUT: Make us your love for each other.
OUT: Make us your healing for each other.
OUT: Make us your engaging with all others.
OUT: And even our enemies.
OUT: And even the strangers.
OUT: And all creation.
OUT: Amen.
In the new 2020 Mennonite hymnal, Voices Together, songwriter Becca J.R. Lachman offers a hymn that gives us new words to voice our feelings for this particular time. She sets her text to the Southern Harmony tune “Invitation” arranged by Alice Walker. But it can also be sung to the tune of “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.”
COULD IT BE THAT GOD IS SINGING? (VT #42)
Could it be that God is singing, and these notes are my reply
to the God-light warm within me, joining earth and sea and sky?
Surely mercy has a cadence–I can feel it in my soul!
Surely justice builds a chorus, making all God’s children whole!
Have you carried heavy silence, have you let old sorrows win,
or proclaimed psalms of forgiveness, but not offered them within?
Oh, the Spirit, she was singing, even though we could not hear
her abundant streams of living, waiting for us to come near.
Hallelujah for my Jesus, for his life’s surprising course!
May I, too, live bold resistance to injustice, hate, and force.
Surely peace, it has a cadence, asking all of what we bring!
And if music is God breathing, take a holy breath and sing!
© 2004 Becca J.R. Lachman, rev. 2018
Serving Christ Together,
Bishop Christopher deForest (he/him)
Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
